4 ms·

Why the mean-spirited tone and expose? Why not just submit the errata as he sees it?

by andreyf 16y ago

jongraehl 16y ago
It sounds like there are so many flaws that it would not be worth anyone's time to note them all.
InclinedPlane 16y ago
When an otherwise quality work is marred by a few errors the responsible thing to do is submit an errata report to the author. However, when a work is so low quality that every single page appears to contain a glaring error, as seems to be the case here, the responsible thing to do is warn others away from it with as loud a voice as possible
- cubicle67 16y ago
  Four editions worth, too
Bjoern 16y ago
I think that from "I spent about a decade on the C committee—and [2] unlike Schildt, I actually showed up [..]" we can assume that he has some kind of history with the person in question [1]. Peter seems also to get quite some share of hate mail [3]. Despite all that and the tone of the book review I think he is quite right about the bad quality of the book. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt [2] Peter Seebach, http://www.seebs.net/res-w.html http://www.seebs.net/res-w.html [3] http://www.seebs.net/humor/hate.html http://www.seebs.net/humor/hate.html
- nphase 16y ago
  [3] oddly reminds me of bash.org
- DanielBMarkham 16y ago
  I spent about a decade on the C committee I know this sounds mean, but whenever they say they spent a decade on a committee, I can almost guarantee you that the next thing they say will be true yet inconsequential. I say this because I have done my share of proof-reading C and C++ books. And there are a lot of errors. But that's not the worst of it. The worst books don't teach you anything, are full of errors, and the author continues to try to impress you with his work on the standards. The best books teach you and have a few errors that you will figure out on your own. (I got into the proof-reading and writing biz years ago for a couple of years. How? By writing a letter about how book X was so full of mistakes it was unreadable. So I speak from experience)
1amzave 16y ago
For way more background on that than you probably actually want, check the archives of comp.lang.c...
prodigal_erik 16y ago
This wasn't a handful of innocent mistakes. This was such severe ignorance that it was actually negligent to publish the book at all. He made a living of misinforming a generation of programmers.
rbanffy 16y ago
For a leaflet-sized errata, that would be the case. Here, it seems, the errata would be comparable, if not larger, than the original book. I wonder if the guy could get away with publishing a book called "What's Wrong in C:TCR". Any copyright lawyers want to chime in?

Why the mean-spirited tone and expose? Why not just submit the errata as he sees it?

by andreyf 16y ago

Why the mean-spirited tone and expose? Why not just submit the errata as he sees it?

jongraehl 16y ago

It sounds like there are so many flaws that it would not be worth anyone's time to note them all.

InclinedPlane 16y ago

When an otherwise quality work is marred by a few errors the responsible thing to do is submit an errata report to the author. However, when a work is so low quality that every single page appears to contain a glaring error, as seems to be the case here, the responsible thing to do is warn others away from it with as loud a voice as possible

cubicle67 16y ago
Four editions worth, too

Bjoern 16y ago

I think that from "I spent about a decade on the C committee—and [2] unlike Schildt, I actually showed up [..]" we can assume that he has some kind of history with the person in question [1]. Peter seems also to get quite some share of hate mail [3]. Despite all that and the tone of the book review I think he is quite right about the bad quality of the book. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writings_of_Herbert_Schildt [2] Peter Seebach, http://www.seebs.net/res-w.html http://www.seebs.net/res-w.html [3] http://www.seebs.net/humor/hate.html http://www.seebs.net/humor/hate.html

nphase 16y ago
[3] oddly reminds me of bash.org
DanielBMarkham 16y ago
I spent about a decade on the C committee I know this sounds mean, but whenever they say they spent a decade on a committee, I can almost guarantee you that the next thing they say will be true yet inconsequential. I say this because I have done my share of proof-reading C and C++ books. And there are a lot of errors. But that's not the worst of it. The worst books don't teach you anything, are full of errors, and the author continues to try to impress you with his work on the standards. The best books teach you and have a few errors that you will figure out on your own. (I got into the proof-reading and writing biz years ago for a couple of years. How? By writing a letter about how book X was so full of mistakes it was unreadable. So I speak from experience)

1amzave 16y ago

For way more background on that than you probably actually want, check the archives of comp.lang.c...

prodigal_erik 16y ago

This wasn't a handful of innocent mistakes. This was such severe ignorance that it was actually negligent to publish the book at all. He made a living of misinforming a generation of programmers.

rbanffy 16y ago

For a leaflet-sized errata, that would be the case. Here, it seems, the errata would be comparable, if not larger, than the original book. I wonder if the guy could get away with publishing a book called "What's Wrong in C:TCR". Any copyright lawyers want to chime in?